Spinelli v. United States

William Spinelli was convicted under 18 U. S. C. i 19521 of traveling to St. Louis, Missouri, from a nearby Illinois suburb with the intention of conducting gambling activities proscribed by Missouri law. See Mo. Rev. Stat. § 563.360 (1959). At every appropriate stage in the proceedings in the lower courts, the petitioner challenged the constitutionality of the warrant which authorized the FBI search that uncovered the evidence necessary for his conviction. At each stage, Spinelli’s challenge was treated in a different way. At a pretrial suppression hearing, the United States District Court…